


Black Kryptonite

by Rhino (RhinoMouse)



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex is not happy, Angst, Black Kryptonite, Cinematic Parallels to Astra, Evil Supergirl Has No Filters, F/F, F/M, Good Supergirl is Surprisingly Useless, I Don't Even Know, Kara Danvers Needs a Hug, Kara Has Issues, Kara Suffers A Lot, Kryptonite Has Consequences, Legit Evil Supergirl, Lena Luthor Finds Out Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Mon-el Should Never Fight a Pissed off Super, More angst, Non Shows Up Briefly Only To Die, Sam just wants to go home, Several Minor Characters Die, She Represses Way Too Much, She Spends A Lot of Time Watching Disney and Cries if She Punches Someone, The Disturbing Implications The Show Makes, The Government Are the Bad Guys, Torture, Winn is Traumatized
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-14 08:04:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14765738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhinoMouse/pseuds/Rhino
Summary: Black Kryptonite may get rid of Reign in a World Killer, but for a regular kryptonian the result is very different. No one is equipped for a Super with no morals, compassion, and a working knowledge of every anti-kryptonian strategy. Kara should never have been in Lena's lab during the attempts to cure Sam, the risk was too great. Not that anyone realized that in time.aka. I read too many comics and Black Kryptonite is a thing and its horrific. Not to mention a Super just has to be too close to it, no injection needed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So apparently I still had issues even after that last oneshot...oops. Also am I the only one who knows what black kryptonite does to kryptonians? I mean its showed up a few times. Likes its really bad news. 
> 
> I figured out what bugs me about James! Ok so he's framed by the show as a good, stable, level headed, kind, compassionate, guy with an ear ready to listen and strong sense of justice. Not to mention the actor is ridiculously attractive, I mean I'm gay as hell and even I know that. But the thing is that his actions don't line up with his cinematic framing. Like for a fan who isn't interested in breaking down their show, he's a great guy. We're supposed to think he is afterall. But if you stop and think about his actions like...he's none of those things more than skin deep at best. Which is why its so frustrating. We all want the handsome black character to be exactly what he's portrayed as. Hell our society needs characters like he is filmed as. But he's not, and it drives us all crazy because we want him to be that so much. 
> 
> Anyways I've been writing this while I wind down from my night shift so....I'm so sorry about the errors. Like there is no way I've caught them all.

Lena held her breath as her latest attempt at saving Sam began. The thick black liquid form of kryptonite forced into the woman’s veins. Sam/Reign’s back arched, a scream ripped from the World Killer’s throat. Her eyes rolled up in her head as she fell slack against her bindings. And then stillness. Lena looked at the readings on Sam/Reign’s vitals, they were elevated, but she was still alive. 

A groan came from the table bringing her, and everyone else’s attention back to Sam/Reign. Sam/Reign blinked as she looked around, a certain glazed quality to it. “Ruby?” Her voice cracked. 

Lena laughed out in relief. “Ruby’s safe.” 

“Is she gone? Is Reign gone?” Sam asked carefully as she sat up, fear plain to be seen on her face. 

Lena easily took down the force field and moved to Sam’s side, ignoring James and Supergirl’s sounds of protest. She walked to her friends side and and hugged her tightly. “I believe so. We’ll need to run some tests. Probably leave you with a kryptonite ankle monitor. But I think she’s gone.” 

Sam collapsed into Lena’s arms, her body wracked with sobs. A stream of fears and gratitude poured from Sam’s lips into Lena’s chest. 

Rubbing a hand along Sam’s back, her other hand fisted into the fabric of Sam’s clothing, Lena let the dark and ugly feelings of pain melt away. It had been worth it. The loss of trust and friendship between herself and Supergirl, the suspicion and hostility of the DEO. It had been worth it. Lena held onto her friend and knew she’d do it all again to save her friend. She may have lost a lot of trust, and goodwill. But she had Sam, Kara and even James. It was enough. 

“Are you sure it's safe?” James’s voice came from over her shoulder. He was holding the aerosol version of kryptonite, his eyes narrowed, frame tense as he edged towards her. 

Lena rolled her eyes. “It’s Sam.” 

He didn’t look convinced, but Supergirl’s hand rested on top of his rising arm and pulled it back down. She stepped forward, an exhausted smile on her face. “It’s good to have you back Sam.” 

Sam let out a croaking sob. “I almost killed you.” 

“That wasn’t you.” Supergirl’s face looked ever so pained at the reminder of the damage Reign had done. But her smile didn’t falter. “You’ve been missed by a lot of people.” 

Lena bit back any irritated retort at the hero. Now wasn’t the time, and there was no point in antagonizing the woman over her presumption she belonged anywhere near Sam. Instead she focused on Sam. “Once we get those tests done you can see Ruby.” Her lips quirked up. “I should warn you that Alex Danvers is weak when it comes to your daughter and let her dye her hair.” 

“She...how long have I been here?” Sam looked up at her with wide eyes, but real hope in them now. 

Supergirl’s voice sounds fond, comforting even in its strength, an act, but one Lena couldn’t begrudge, for Sam’s sake. “Not long, Ruby hasn’t even finished the year out in her classes.” 

“Thank you.” Sam looks between both of them. “Thank you both of you.” She straightened her back slightly, wiping away her tears. “How fast can you do those tests?”

James clears his throat. “The DEO will want to do their own tests. His eyes were still narrowed ever so slightly. 

“Don’t be silly.” Lena smiles at him, it was sweet that he was worried. “I know what I’m doing and if they try to stop me I’ll drown them in legal till their up to their eyes in lawsuits.” 

Supergirl’s lips twitched in amusement as she moved out of Lena’s way. She bumped into the table, her form blurring as she grabbed the falling vile of the cure. “Oh gosh.” The hero exclaimed as she set it back down on the table. “I think the last few days must have--.” Her voice cut off suddenly. 

Lena shifted so she can actually look at the other woman and freezes. 

Supergirl was looking at her hand in horror. Her veins were turning black. She tried to brush the color away with her hand, her eyes turning alarmed. But the spread was fast, and seemingly separate from the actual kryptonite. She opened her mouth, to say what Lena never finds out as the black reaches past her neck and to her head. Instead of words a scream issued from her mouth.

Lena grabbed Sam, shielding her with her body. She watched in horror as Supergirl fell to the floor clearly seizing. 

James rushed to her side, yanking anything out of her way. He hit his comm. “Winn! Get a med evac to the Luthor Lab now! Supergirl is hurt.” 

His voice was nearly drowned out by the Super’s screams. And then her skin seemed to shift like hot wax, every inch of skin now completely black. Supergirl’s screams finally silenced, if in sound only; her mouth still open in a now soundless cry. And then her shifting skin rippled and seemed to tear. There was a great and awful cracking sound. 

Lena wanted to puke as she realized what was happening. The other woman was literally splitting in half, her bones cracking, skin tearing. She needed to do something, anything. But this was so far beyond her ability or comprehension she doesn’t even know what to do. 

The Super’s haves bubble as the line of brokenness on each side fills with human form. And then the blackness fades as if it was never there, leaving two copies of the woman unconscious on the floor. 

“Get them onto the bed.” Lena ordered, her mind seemed distant, but her body knew what it needed to do. She grabbed medical equipment, she didn’t know what had happened, she needed to know so that she can help. 

James acted scooping up one of the two versions of the woman up and laying her on the bed that Sam had quickly vacated. He grabbed the second version just as quickly, if his skin was any lighter Lena had no doubt he’d have a green tinge to it.

Lena’s fingers pressed to the neck of the first unmoving form, a soundless sob broke from her throat, gods she had a pulse. A second check and she knows that at least both...versions of the woman are alive. “Sam, call Alex. The passcode is 1920.” She looked up at James whose eyes are riveted to the blonde. “James, get the medical cart. Now!” 

She reached for an electrode to attach to the unconscious woman..women? When a grip like steel settled around her wrist, surely bruising. Lena snapped her attention to the cold blue eyes looking up at her. “Supergirl!” 

“Lena.” The blonde sat up, never releasing her hold. There was something very wrong in how her eyes tracked around the room. Finally they returned to Lena and she felt a shiver of terror run down her spine as the Super looked at her, a smirk pulling at her lips. “I’ll leave you alive, this time. I suppose I owe you my thanks for this.” 

Hopping off of the cot the woman kept her hold on Lena’s hand. She rolled her neck, “I’m free.” 

“Supergirl.” James’s voice was cautious as he approached. “Let her go.” 

The blonde’s eyes moved to lock on James. “Or what? You’ll trap your girlfriend in a cage with me?” Her smirk turned positively cruel. “I suppose I shouldn’t put it past you, afterall you only seemed to want her alive after you started fucking her.” 

“Let go of me.” Lena snarled. She wasn’t sure what was going on but she was not going to stand there while Supergirl said things like that. 

Supergirl looked at her, a look of pity so fake it burned. “Oh did you think he really cared for you?” She laughed and it was cruel and harsh. “Lucy thought he loved her and he still strung me along on the side.” The cruel smile came back. “I thought he loved me but he still lied to me for months.” She laughed. 

“I don’t know what’s happened to you, but you need to stop it now.” James’s voice was hard as he raised the bottle of kryptonite. 

Supergirl just raised a brow, and then her eyes burned, and James’s hand burned. The bottle rolling away as he hit his knees, crying out in pain. “Stop saying the truth? You can’t stop me James. Afterall, you’re human and weak.” 

Lena let out a sound of pain as Supergirl dragged her out of the medical cell by the wrist. Supergirl gave her a smug look. “You let your guard down. Silly, silly girl.” And then she was gone in a rush of wind. 

////

Kara’s first thought was that everything ached. She knew what the sharp pains and dull ache, the raw feeling to her skin was caused by. Groaning she croaked, knowing Alex would be by her side. “What happened?” She didn’t remember the kryptonite that must have been used, but she could certainly feel its effects. 

“You can ask Luthor.” Alex’s voice was sharp and from further away than usual. 

Her brown scrunched up as she cracked her eyes open and looked over towards where she’d heard her sister’s voice. “Alex?” Her voice was rough and dry. Kara made an attempt to sit up only for her wrists and ankles to be halted. 

Frowning, Kara looked down. There were cuffs holding her in place. Her eyes widened as she looked around her location. Sweet Rao she was Reign’s cage. Panic bubbled up inside of her as she jerked against her bindings. “Alex!” Her voice cracked in panic and horror. 

Kara’s breathing sped up as she uselessly tried to free herself. Her heart was in her throat as it began to beat faster and faster. Her ears filled with a rushing sound, the world falling out of focus. She couldn’t be imprisoned again, she hadn’t done anything! This room could turn dark and small and she couldn’t, she couldn’t. 

Distantly she heard an alarmed voice shouting. “She’s having a panic attack!” 

It didn’t matter though, what mattered was she couldn’t move. She couldn’t move! The walls of the place closed in on her as she twisted her hands and feet, desperate to get them out of the vice of her restraints. Darkness filled her periphery as she shook, her struggles increasing. 

Then her hands and ankles were free, someone was stroking her hair, her head being pressed against a chest, her ear to the steady heart beat. The shaking wouldn’t stop, her panic wouldn’t fade. But she wasn’t trapped. She curled herself into a ball, leaning against the touch of another person; proof she wasn’t still in the unending darkness. 

“You’re alright, you’re safe.” Alex’s voice murmured into her hair, her hands soothing as they held her tightly. Grip so tight it would bruise a human. 

Kara wasn’t sure how long she sat there till she sniffled as her breathing slowed, her chest felt hollow and cold. But she could feel awareness returning to her after what could have been hours. “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s alright.” Alex didn’t release her hold on her. “I should have known what being confined would do to you.” Her voice was thick with self-recrimination. 

A throat cleared. “Alex, you should get away from her.” 

Kara frowned as she opened her eyes pulled back slightly. “James?” She caught his familier figured, though one hand was bandaged, his other held the kryptonite spray that had been used on Reign. A shiver went down her spine at how he was looking at her. She looked around then. Her eyes stopped at Lena’s face. “Lena! Who hurt you!” 

Lena raised a single brow, her black eye standing out in stark relief against her pale skin. “Agent Danvers was displeased.” 

“Alex?” Kara looked at her sister’s stubborn face. “Why would you hurt Lena? What happened?” She pulled away from Alex’s arms. Something was very wrong. Why had she been locked up like Reign? Why was James looking at her like a threat? 

“Supergirl…” Alex looked at her, almost nervously. “What is the last thing you remember?” 

Her brows crinkled further, and then her face lit up. “Sam! Lena saved Sam!” 

“Yes well you touched the cure. A black, liquid form of kryptonite.” Alex’s voice was cautious as she looked at her. 

Kara felt a sudden horrible sensation. “What did I do?” There was a ringing silence. “Alex, what did I do?” 

“It wasn’t you exactly.” Lena cut in, she looked...tense. “It split you, in half. The other you woke up first. She was...dangerous.” 

Kara blinked rapidly as she tried to process that. “What do you mean split in half?” She patted at herself anxiously, but she was whole and solid beneath her hands. 

“The process was horrifying.” Lena’s voice was so closed off Kara didn’t even recognize it easily. “When the other you woke up she was cruel, casually vicious and she flew off before we could even hope to stop her. I apologize for securing you to the bed, but it was a necessary security measure.” 

The words brought on a trickle of dread. Kara looked at Alex. “Was it like RedK?”

“I wasn’t there.” Alex hedged before wincing. “But from the security tapes, yes.” 

Kara swallowed thickly. “Show me?” 

“You don’t have to.” Alex protested.

“Yes she does.” James cut in. “We just stopped the last World Killer, if she can help us stop whatever that creature was, we’ll need it.” 

Kara cringed, was it really that bad? “Please.” 

////

Lena ran over the data they’d been able to collect on this version of Supergirl. Everything about her was healthy, with exception of the earlier panic attack. But outside of her physical state there was something wrong with the heroine. She hit the white noise button, no super hearing to eavesdrop. “It’s not just me, there’s something wrong with her?” 

“You’re not wrong.” Alex’s jaw tightened. “It's her...but it's not at the same time.” 

She felt a dull throb of pain from where Alex had struck her. “Do you have a theory?” 

“Not a good one.” Alex bit out. Her knuckles were white from how hard she was clenching her hands. “What do you know about red kryptonite?” 

Lena frowned. “Red kryptonite?” 

“It's a form of synthetic kryptonite when the ions are charged opposite of how they should be.” Alex’s voice was hard, unwavering. “It suppresses a kryptonians compassion, love, empathy, kindness, all that is good. Instead it brings up all of the awful nasty thoughts and impulses the individual has ever had. The worst possible version is brought out. The person who cut you off in traffic; well the passing thought of ‘I wish I could strangle them’ turns into very real action.” 

She swallowed, that wasn’t good. “You think the other half is acting as if she’d been drugged with this form of kryptonite?” 

“I think instead of just suppressing Supergirl’s good qualities you’ve separated them from her worst impulses.” Alex looked at her harshly. “I think you’ve turned the greatest hero on this planet into a weak and frightened husk and a husk of nothing but furry and rage. If you weren’t our best chance at fixing this I’d have done more than just given you a black eye.” The venom on her tongue was practically dripping. 

Lena looked at the screen projecting Winn getting Supergirl to smile ever so softly. The strength, power and sheer presence of the woman was gone. She was as inclined to trust the version in there to save a person as not completely melt down at the hint of a small room. “I don’t know how to help her. This isn’t...I would need both sides of her to even start.” 

“Well that’s going to be a problem because Reign didn’t know every anti-kryptonian measure we have. Nor did she know the exact capabilities of every DEO agent.” Alex was practically snarling. 

She wasn’t going to just take it. So she snapped at the Agent. “Well what do you think the other half is going to do?” 

Alex paused, her face turning thoughtful. “She didn’t want to be cured, to feel guilt. She claimed it made her feel free.” She bit at her lip as she seemed to consider. “If she really doesn’t have any of her emotional connections really there it won’t matter to her that the DEO can have every human she cares for custody in under twenty minutes. She’ll want to prevent us from stopping her.” 

“How would she do that?” Lena was going to ask about that tidbit, about the DEO detaining innocent humans for simply being connected to Supergirl, later. 

“She’d need a kryptonite blocker…..” Alex grabbed her radio and flipped to a different channel. “Vaquez, get to the locker of Non’s personal effects and triple the security on Non! Lock down the whole block!” 

-”His cell is empty. What’s going on Agent Danvers?”- A panicked sounding voice came back over the radio. -”Do I send out the alarm?”-

Alex’s teeth ground together. “Do it.” She grabbed her cellphone and was dialing before Lena could even think to ask what was going on. Alex started talking before the person on the other side of the phone could even greet her. “Get out, you have ten minutes before the DEO is going to order you brought in. Go dark, grab the emergency pack and get out. I’ll call the burner phone when I know more.” She hung up without waiting 

“What’s going on?!” Lena grabbed Alex’s shoulder. 

Alex just snarled. “What’s happening is Supergirl’s human foster mother is going to have to go on the run because she’s the only human that the DEO doesn’t already have that they can use as leverage that won’t work.” Her teeth were bared. “The other half of Supergirl just freed the kryptonian that initiated Myriad and stole one of the most advanced kryptonite blockers on the planet.” 

“Why would she do that?” Lena felt a sick sensation in her stomach, a voice whispering in her mind that she had done this. That she hadn’t listened when Supergirl had tried to tell her the danger of kryptonite. That all she’d heard was hate and the name ‘Luthor’ and not the real terror beneath the words. 

Alex just glared. “What would you do if you had no morals, no compassion, and nothing but repressed fury and hurt?” 

Lena swallowed, she knew what she’d do. She’d do what Lex had done. Destroy any threats to her power, through any means necessary. “How do we capture her? If we can capture her I will fix this.” 

“We have hours to capture her. If we don’t the army will be called in and they will kill her.” Alex’s face was tight. “Do you have any anti kryptonian weapons that don’t involve kryptonite?” 

She meant to reply no but she stopped herself. “Not that I’d think of as weapons. But I have several inventions meant to get around kryptonian power.” 

“Of course you do.” Alex scoffed. “I told her she shouldn’t have trusted you.” She shook her head. “I should have held strong to that opinion as long as James at least. Let’s go see what you’ve created that can kill Supergirl.” 

Lena wanted to protest, but she still felt the sick guilt from watching Supergirl split in half from just touching Sam’s cure. “I can block x-ray vision, force fields that can’t be broken through by kryptonians, white noise machines that block the advanced hearing of kryptonians and I’m capable of remaking Lex’s noise grenade.”

“Does Supergirl know of any of these inventions?” Alex looked at her seriously. 

She paused. “She was there for Lex’s grenade. She knows about the block for x-ray vision.” 

“And she still walked into your lab willingly?” Alex made a sound of sheer frustration. “She’s never had sense.” 

Lena snapped. “I had no way of knowing this would happen. Her coming in contact with the black kryptonite had nothing to do with my actions. It's not my fault she’s apparently a clutz and incapable of proper lab safety measures.” 

“Don’t you dare!” Alex snarled turning, her finger jabbing sharply against Lena’s chest. “If we don’t manage to stop her the army will step in. And they will kill her. Winn might survive this if the army steps in. James possibly. I definitely will be thrown in containment for years. And you can forget Sam being pardoned for Reign’s actions. She’ll be cut open as a guinea pig without Supergirl in the government’s good graces to protect her. Not even your power or legal team will be able to save anyone. If you even try you’ll just find yourself black sighted as well.” 

She flinched at the gesture, slapping away the agent’s hand. “What are you talking about?”

“The government has been split on whether to kill, contain, or work with the Supers. If this version of Supergirl that you’ve created goes too far it will be the end for both Supers.” Alex’s face was nothing but fury. “Anyone who’s connected with the Supers will go down as well. J’onn will be arrested, as will his father. You will return the DEO into another arm of Cadmus. You may be willing to take chances with biological weapons designed to fight exactly two individuals. But you don’t get to act like the fault doesn’t lay at your feet when people die.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yo! Next chapter already. I am stuck home with the flue(my manger made me go home...apparently I looked rather like death), but I've gotten a lot of writing done. So chapter 3 is almost done already so...you'll probably get it tomorrow after my shift I manage not to get sent home again.
> 
> Also did I mention angst? Cause its gonna get worse...there is like...no fluff. Just pain. 
> 
> I would like to point out that Kara's greatest weakness in fights is that she tries to negotiate peace first, then she tries to subdue and then to stop. Which of course means if the other person equals her strength they've beaten her so badly by the point she's forced to fight without much mercy that she can easily lose. And we already know Kara is stronger than Kal even when trying to negotiate, reason and not hurt him too badly.

Sam ran her fingers through Ruby’s hair, as her daughter slept on the thin cot, in the DEO headquarters. She looked up to where Lena was scribbling desperately at her tablet. “Remind me to write my will so that Alex Danvers is never the sole guardian of my daughter. She’s amazing with her, but she’ll also get her a motorcycle for her sixteenth birthday if she’s not stopped.” 

“Hmmm…” Lena didn’t look up from her tablet. Her eyes were bloodshot, dark circles beginning to show.

She sighed, it wasn’t exactly the happy cure, she’d barely dared hope for. Sam was safe, her daughter was safe in her arms. But the world was in as much or more danger than ever. “Lena, you need to sleep. You won’t be any help if you can’t see straight.” 

“I can’t take a break. I did this and I have to fix it.” Lena looked up at her then, her eyes blown with a frightening amount of desperation. 

Sam stared in surprise, she’d never seen Lena this panicked before. “Lena, there’s a whole government agency trying to fix this. You can take an hour long nap.” 

“They’re going to blame me for this.” Lena looked rather sick. “I made the substance that did this, it won’t matter that it was a cure.” 

“Honey, you really need to start using lab safety protocols in your private lab. You have them for every lab controlled by L-corp, except for your private ones.” Sam reached and caught her friend’s hand. “But you will fix this, and Supergirl would never let you get dragged through the mud like that. Especially for something that was an accident.” 

Lena scoffed, lowering the tablet in her hands. “She’ll be the first one braying for my blood.” 

“Why on earth? I thought you two were friends, you bragged about it when I first got here. When you’re drunk I’ve had to listen to odes to her biceps.” Sam frowned in confusion. 

“She lied.” Lena bit out. “When the World Killers attacked to free Reign they found the kryptonite and the medical cell I’d made to help you.” Her spine stiffened. “So Supergirl went and asked James to check my vault to see if I’d lied and had more kryptonite.” 

Sam blinked as she processed that. “Did you?” 

“Sam!” Lena looked at her in shock. 

“I know you Lena, and you like being prepared even if you never would have used it.” She squeezed Lena’s hand tighter. 

Lena grimaced. “Yes. But she went behind my back, involved the man I’m dating to spy on me. I thought she was better than Lillian, but apparently I was wrong.” 

“Wait...Lillian? Did Supergirl try to murder you?!” Sam was barely kept her voice from pitching louder than the soft tone they had been speaking at, so as not to wake Ruby. 

Lena frowned slightly. “No? But using the people around me like that. Throwing away two years of good will like that.” 

“Wait...when has Lillian ever had two years of good will with you?” Sam was having a hard time following all of this, but she did know that something wasn’t quite right. “I thought the only time Lillian has ever attempted to keep you alive was during the Daxamite invasion, and only because she needed you to get her daxamite murdering box running?” 

A confused look came over Lena’s face. “Are you defending her?” 

“No.” Sam squeezed Lena’s hand even harder. “She’s not the second coming of Lilian and it's a disservice to your friendship with her to think of her like that.” 

“We’re not friends. I don’t know why that matters to her, we’ve been colleagues at best.” Lena freed her hand as she went back to her tablet. 

Sam felt her brows rising, well shit. “Lena, you need to talk to her. Throwing away a friendship over this isn’t worth it. It’s kryptonite, I mean clearly she had a point to be terrified of it.” 

“You’re really taking her side in this?” Lena looked at her in sheer disbelief. 

Sam raised her hand. “I’m on your side Lena, even if that means telling you what you don’t want to hear.” 

Lena opened and shut her mouth. Whatever she was going to say though never came as the door to their room was thrown open, a panicked agent looking in. His eyes were wide as he spoke. “Turn on the tv!” 

“What channel?” Lena gave him a cutting look. 

“Any of them!” He turned on his heel and took off down the hall. 

Sam got up, she carefully ensured Ruby was tucked in, before grabbing Lena’s forearm and dragging them both to the nearest conference room. It wasn’t empty, there were several agents gathered around to watch. Sam’s breath caught in her throat as she saw what they were watching, every channel indeed. 

////

Kara Zor-el watched as her cousin flew towards her. She was flying just in front of the Daily Planet, after all this was going to need to be seen. There had been lessons she’d learned standing behind Cat Grant, and one of them was controlling the narrative. So that’s what she was going to do. This wouldn’t take long. A shark like smile split her lips, even if it was too short she was going to enjoy it. 

She waited till he came to a stop in front of her, that dumb confused expression on his face. Kara raised her voice, she knew they would hear what she had to say. “Kal-el, you are not an El in anything but name. You’ve spat on our traditions and our house long enough. I should have done this as head of our house years ago.” 

“Wha-” He didn’t get to finish his question. 

Kara slammed into him, her right fist burying itself into his stomach. He didn’t go flying with the force of it, she’d grabbed his shoulder with her left. Before he could recover she rammed her knee up hard between his legs. 

Kal let out a sound like a wounded bull at that. The air forced out of him. 

She raised both hands clasping them together and slammed down on his head as hard as she could. He went down like a shot, cratering the street below him. Kara shot down after him, heel first forcing his body further into the ground. 

Throwing her head back she laughed as she dropped down, straddling him and hit him again, and again and again. Blood splattered her face and hands. It was warm, the scent of it in the air was sweet to her senses. He deserved this pain, and she needed him unable to fight back. With a final punch she felt his ribs give way under her fist. Straightening up she grabbed the front of his suit and flew them up to the rim of the crater that she’d made with his body. 

Kara landed before the cameras, the fear on the humans’ faces was delicious. Holding her cousin up, his eyes half lidded as he struggled to hold onto consciousness, she spoke. “Superman is a disgrace to his house and his people. He’s human in every way that matters.” She reached grabbing the front of his suit, the top of the El crest.

His hands fumbled weakly at her. She ignored his futile movement. “As head of house El I cast him from our house.” Kara ripped the crest off of his suit. “He holds no alliance or reguard from house El from this day forward. He abandoned his kin and his duties. He played at god when he is no such thing. He has spat upon our culture and ideals. If he wears the crest of house El again I’ll be back and I will not show mercy.” 

Kara dropped his limp form onto the street before shooting up into the sky. As she flew she laughed at the victory she’d had. It had been easy, so easy. He hadn’t thought to fight back till it had been too late. His arrogance had left him weak, his lack of connections unprepared. 

She flew with purpose for the fortress. Half way through Canada she came to a halt. “Non.” 

“You didn’t kill Kal.” He hovered in the air, his eye sockets the empty and burned out travesty she’d made them during Myriad. 

She smirked at the sight of his shame, his loss. “He deserves to suffer. So I’ve stripped him of what he cares about. I might kill that human of his later. I haven’t decided. But it will be days before he has the power to so much as sit up in bed. He’s neutralized for now.” 

“Now is not the time for mercy.” He snapped, arms crossed. “You said you wished for revenge, this isn’t revenge.” 

Kara cocked a brow as she looked at the broken man before her. “Revenge is mine to take how I please.” 

“You should kill these fools and rule this miserable planet.” Non floated closer. “You know it's your only choice.” 

“Are you telling me what to do?” Kara felt a thrum of irritation, she didn’t like Non. But allies would be necessary if she didn’t want to die like a dog. “I have no interest in ruling these miserable people. They will learn that I can do what I want, and the pain of crossing me. But why should I bother with the effort to rule?” 

Non’s face twisted into a look of disgust, it was rather hideous considering his burnt out eye sockets. “Then you are the weak child I fought last. We are done.” He spat at the ground betwixt them and turned to leave. 

Kara’s face hardened. She was on his back in a second, one arm around his neck, the other leveraged against his head. “You shouldn’t have gone against me.” Then she tightened her hold and twisted her entire body. 

There was a resounding crack as his body went limp. She let his dead husk fall tumbling to the ground below them. Kara cocked her head to the side. “Well, I suppose I’ll need more protection than a single allie then.” 

Her ear twitched as she heard the screams as some human found the body of her dead uncle below her. Kara frowned, foolish humans. Well, it seemed she had need of finding the alien black market then. If she had no friends, she could at least be prepared. 

////

Kara Danvers sat quietly in the conference room. She stared at her lap. She still felt sick at what she had seen. Everyone around the table had to feel the same didn’t they? The footage from the Daily Planet of her, beating down Clark, stripping him of their house. It made her nauseous. 

“We have to stop her.” James’s voice was strong and sure. “Whatever that thing is it needs to be stopped.” 

Alex spoke up tightly. “How do we know that won’t kill this Supergirl?” She waved her hands. “We don’t know what is happening. We need to capture her.” Her eyes narrowed. “But we’re not going to kill her.” 

“She’s going to kill us if we don’t do something.” James snapped back. 

“Enough.” J’onn pulled everyone’s attention to himself. “We have a day at best before the army is called in by the president.” His face was grave. “Non is dead. If this version of Supergirl is willing to kill her own uncle, disgrace and nearly kill her cousin than we need to be cautious. Capture will be our priority, but all agents will be given permission to kill if capture is impossible.” 

“J’onn!” Alex was on her feet instantly. “This is Supergirl! We can’t just shoot her down like any other hostile.” 

Kara spoke up, her voice hoarse. “No Alex, they should.” She looked around the table. “I don’t know what her plans are, but I know she’s dangerous. If it saves even one persons life you kill her, regardless of what it does to me.” 

“What? NO!?” Alex looked panicked and ready to start shooting anyone who even dreamed of agreeing with Kara. 

She just shook her head. “Yes. I should have died when I was thirteen when my planet crumbled and exploded. I knew when I put this cape on that it would kill me.” Kara tilted her chin up. “My life is not worth the terror that this other version of me will cause.” 

“Then why can’t you go and stop her?” Lena spoke up, her brow raised. “If you’re willing to die for this planet why can’t you go out and defeat her?” 

Kara looked at her friend and felt a wave of guilt. She bit her lip, the words desperate to pour out. But she managed to choke them back. “She’s stronger than me.” Kara shifted uncomfortable. “She isn’t holding back, she doesn’t care about collateral damage, or who dies in her way. And she’s a better trained fighter than Reign was.” 

“Wait, are you saying that you could have stopped Reign during that first battle if you’d just taken it seriously!?” Lena’s eyes were wide and horrified. 

She swallowed thickly. “If I’d let her slaughter innocents, and aimed to kill her instead of stop her, yes.” 

“Then I’m grateful you didn’t, for Ruby’s sake at least.” Sam spoke, her voice kind. “Do you have plans on how to capture her?” 

J’onn let out a sound of frustration. “We don’t know where she is, or what she’s doing.” 

Alex paused, a thoughtful look on her face. She looked to Kara, her eyes sharp. “That’s not true entirely is it. You may love Kal, but he betrayed you, he abandoned you.” Her voice took on a more certain tone. “What if she’s going after the people you’ve been angry with but haven’t said anything to?” 

“But…” Kara felt her eyes widen in horror. “Oh no.” 

J’onn pinched the bridge of his nose. “So RedK again. At least we can plan for that.” He looked back to her. “Who do you think will make the best bait to lure in this other version of you Supergirl?” 

Kara really was going to be sick, who had she held the most rage for up until she’d woken up in Lena’s lab? There were so many hurts she never addressed. That she buried and forgot, because it was better to hurt than to be alone. She knew the truth though, who this new version of her would likely go for after Kal. It was obvious once she thought about it. “Alex.” 

“What?” Lena’s voice was surprised, real shock in her tone. “Aren’t you two all buddy buddy?” 

Alex’s teeth clenched as she glared at Lena. “You can keep your mouth shut.” She looked to Kara. “This is about Astra isn’t it?” 

“Some of it.” Kara winced at the focus of the room. But the truth was needed if Alex was to survive this. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Jeremiah.” 

“What are you...oh.” Alex’s face blanched in horror and understanding. She nodded sharply. “I can take it. We use me as bait, I’m sure Luthor here has some goodies that will knock this evil version of Supergirl down long enough to get rid of her kryptonite blockers.” She shot a truly venomous look at Lena. 

Kara really was going to be sick. She stood up sharply. “I need to speak to Lena.” She caught her friend...whatever they were to each other now’s eye. “Please.” 

“Fine, make it quick. They’ll need my help to stop your other half from wrecking the planet.” Lena stood up and walked towards her. 

Kara just nodded, what was there to argue? It was true. Her shoulders hunched inwards as she quietly lead them to a supply closet. At the confused expression on Lena’s face she explained. “No Cameras.” 

Cautiously Lena followed her into the small closet. It was quite large for what it was, there was space for both of them between the two walls of shelves. Not a lot, but they weren’t bumping elbows either. Kara sucked in a breath as she looked at her best friend. “The other version of me...she’s going to say thing to hurt you.” 

“She already has.” Lena flicked her wrist. “You already have before this. I’ll be fine.” 

“That’s not…” She huffed in frustration. “I have a lie that my entire life is built on.” Kara finally found the strength to meet Lena’s eyes. Because it was the right thing to do, because Lena needed to hear it from her. “I was scared and alone when I first arrived on earth. And I was told my cousin didn’t need me. He told me to be human and gave me to a family. And they told me to hide, to be human.” 

Kara sucked in a breath. “There was a car accident, a woman and her baby were trapped and I saved them. But the car exploded and I was so small and I couldn’t protect the bystanders. My human sister was hurt, she had to have stitches. It was my fault and my human father told me earth didn’t need another Superman. I was supposed to be human, if I tried to be kryptonian that I’d get the humans around me killed.” She swallowed. “When I did too well in school I was in trouble because smart kids stand out. If I ever lost control of my powers I was in trouble for risking my human family. I flew my human sister and I once. And the DEO came and they took our human father.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” Lena’s arms were crossed over her stomach defensively. 

Kara just shook her head and kept going. If she stopped she’d never be able to explain. “So I was human, I hid. I didn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t date because being that close to another person was dangerous. I couldn’t have close friends because what if they noticed? I had to hear people calling, begging for help and I couldn’t do anything because what would the DEO do to my sister, to my mother? And then that plane came down. My human sister was on it, and suddenly I didn’t care what anyone did or what happened I couldn’t lose her.” 

“And everything was so messy. I told Winn, he was the closest thing to a real friend I’d ever had.” Kara choked on the irony of that. Because he was a friend, a little brother almost, but that was now not then. “I was in trouble for being Supergirl. I hadn't spoke in person to my cousin in years. My human sister was so angry with me. My earth mother was so angry with my sister for not stopping me. And people got hurt. Anyone who knew who I was they got hurt Lena. James was kidnapped by Bizarro. Winn..god Winn’s almost died several times. They all get hurt, they all get brought into the DEO and made to join.” 

Her voice was thick with tears that were trying to escape. “It was never about your name. It was that I cared, and I could never risk you being brought in here. But you’re here anyways and I should have told you. I just...I was so scared Lena. That you would hate me for it, that other people would hurt you for knowing, that you wouldn’t treat me the same. But I should have told you and now it's too late. But I have to tell you because the other version of me will throw it in your face to hurt you and I can’t let that happen.” 

“Tell me what.” Lena’s voice was ice, her entire being pulled away from her. 

Kara held her gaze though, she couldn’t look away. “My name.” She choked slightly. “I was born Kara Zor-el of Krypton, but here on earth I’m known as Kara Danvers.” 

Lena stared at her silently for a long a while. And then she slapped her. If Kara hadn’t of moved with the strike, it would have broken Lena’s hand. She didn’t say anything. Lena just shoved past her and left her alone in the closet. 

Alone. Kara sunk to her knees and sobbed. She’d lost her then. And she ached for everything she had lost with that. It hurt, it hurt so much.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so satisfying to write I can't even...like it was good.

Kara Zor-el felt like scoffing as she spotted Alex in the office of one Snapper Carr. The fact she couldn’t see into the rooms around was evidence enough that this was a trap. She tilted her head to the side and considered, she had no interest in having her freedom taken away. But then making Catco a trap for her was stupid, the fools. She didn’t need her x-ray vision to know where the support beams were. 

Her eyes heated up as she burned through the walls, her vision slicing all the way through and cutting a support beam in half. Just the one, after all she wanted to play with her prey, on her own terms. As the alarms went off she laughed and sent a second burst taking out the power in the building. The generators burst into flames. 

She stayed hovering just outside the doors as people streamed outwards. Ignoring their cries, the sounds of terror. Pathetic, she hadn’t even brought the building down, or set it properly alight. They’d escape. She had stayed her hand, the media was still useful, even if she was going to destroy them when they stopped being useful. 

Flying out of the window, hanging onto the back of Guardian and Alex was Mon-el. Kara didn’t let them land as they planned. She zipped at him fist first. Her hand snapped his head back, hard. 

He dropped out of the air, James in his foolish metal suit crashing into the ground with a pained cry at the impact. To Mon-el’s credit he managed to keep a hold of Alex and took the impact as they crashed into the ground. 

“A single punch is all you can take, Prince of Daxam.” Kara called out as she looked down at them, ants. As if these three could have defeated her in her own place of work. 

Mon-el squared himself as he leapt back to his feet. “This isn’t you.” 

“Because you know me so well.” She laughed, it was cold and without humor. “When did you learn that? When you were wearing me down so you could fuck me or when you were ignoring your wife to spend time with me, despite my not wanting a thing to do with you?” 

He rocketed off for her while the two humans with him recovered from their landing. 

Kara grinned, he’s always been a hot head. She blocked his fist easily. There was a rush of blue and she realized what was happening. The blue fabric wrapped around her arm. Her grin turned feral. 

She clenched her fist in the fabric and snapped her arm to the side. Kara didn’t care about the fairness of a fight. She unsheathed a lead dagger she’d purchased just for him. Yanking on the cape she brought him hurtling back into her, using his own momentum to embed it into his side. 

“Rao!” Mon-el choked out, blood running down his side. 

Kara turned them midair, using him as a daxamite meat shield to absorb the flaming bullets coming from Alex. She snorted, as if she wouldn’t be prepared for that. Switching her grip to the neck of the cape, she ripped the dagger from his side. With a last grin at his horrified and pained eyes, she stabbed her dagger into Mon-el’s thigh. She punched him across his smug face, his jaw cracking from the power behind it, and then chucked him at Alex. 

Alex rolled out of the way of the alien missile with a curse on her lips. 

Kara was waiting for her. Alex rolled into Kara’s booted feet. Grabbing Alex’s right hand, gun included she squeezed. 

Alex screamed, her delicate hand bones shattering. A flick of Kara’s finger and she felt Alex’s collar bone snap in half. 

Kara’s head was snapped to the side as something slammed against the side of her head. Growling she turned eyes lighting up as she found James advancing on her. Dropping Alex she stepped towards him. 

He raised tossed a grenade at her. 

She recognized it as it flew through the air. Reaching up she caught it. The screeching sound filled the street. Civilians and reporters cringed away from the sounds. Kara just laughed. “James, James, James. Did you think I wouldn’t cover for my weaknesses?” She tapped the plugs in her ears, from back when Siobhan had been a threat. Closing her fist it shattered into a thousands pieces. 

“You’re a monster.” He snarled drawing a painfully familiar looking kryptonite dagger. It was the same as the one J’onn had used on Astra two years ago. 

Kara’s eyes narrowed. She’d just planned on breaking their first line of defence. To weaken them so that her plan could properly begin. Well all plans required change. “You would kill me James?” Her lips curled back. 

James didn’t reply, he just charged for her. 

“To slow.” She snarled catching his wrist. Holding on she slammed her fist into his face. 

His head snapped back, his arm yanked from it's socket. 

Kara twisted viciously forcing him to drop the dagger. She grabbed his shield and ripped it away from him. “You’re pathetic. What are you without stolen equipment?” She tossed the shield into the cement. With one hand she hoisted him up, ripping his face mask off, projecting her voice. “James Olson. You play being the hero and waste your ability to actually be one.”

“This isn’t you!” His hands scrambled at her hands. 

She scoffed. “Please, this is me! You think a suit makes you a hero? Let me let you in on a secret, being a hero is about doing what’s right. It's not arguing that Luthor should be left to die because you don't’ trust her. It's not sacrificing innocents because you feel above working with someone. It's not defending your identity from criticism by misusing your power in the media. It's not lying to your friends so you can nurse your ego.” 

Kara caught his fist coming for her face. “You’ve never been a hero. You’re just a sad little man who couldn’t take knowing his girlfriend was better than him. So he dated someone more powerful than her. And couldn’t take it that she was more powerful than him and decided that beating up some street thugs would make him feel better.” 

“I’m every bit as much of a hero as you’ve ever been.” James spat at her, kicking out, his legs uselessly bouncing off of her. 

“I was going to leave you three intact. You’ve changed my mind.” Her eyes burned as she cut through his leg at the thigh. 

Dropping him she grabbed him by the back of his armor. “What are you without your suit, without your fancy gadgets and back up? You’re nothing. You never saved anyone till you had a suit. So quick to criticize others, so angry when your own choices are questioned.” Kara threw him into Mon-el who was trying to crawl back to his feet. 

Kara spun in time to bat away a red light grenade. It went flying into the ground to do no harm. “Alex, the sister who was willing to murder my aunt. So quick to throw me away when I argue against you. You’re a drunk.” She grabbed Alex by the hair, yanking her up. “You shot me out of the sky with kryptonite to prove a point. You loved having power over me. Guilted me away from science, it was your thing after all. Too dangerous for the alien to do science.” 

“Please..” Alex’s voice rasped as she struggled, her mangled hand clutched close to her chest. 

“Please?” Her voice turned high and mocking. “Why should I show mercy to the girl who hated me because my panic attacks at school made her unpopular. Who took pleasure in knocking me down when my powers were stripped from me by kryptonite? Who forgot me when she found a girlfriend? Who murdered my aunt and made the price of my anger my sister? Yet after all of that still told me that I was either with your or I wasn’t a part of your family?” 

Alex’s face was pale, as she reached out grabbing at the kryptonite blocker on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.” 

“It's too late for that.” Her lips pulled back and she punched Alex in the gut. Ribs gave way to her strength, likely at least one thing was punctured. Kara found that she didn’t care. Dropping Alex on the ground she eyed the fallen forms of her former allies. Mon-el had stopped the bleeding. That couldn’t be tolerated, even if the lead in his system made him vulnerable. 

Kara kicked off, zipping to his side, grabbing a stop sign as she moved. Standing above him, she glared at him darkly. “You brought ruin to this planet with your lies. I should have killed you when I first realized what an accomplished slaver you were.” She drove the sign post down and through him. 

Turning she walked to the horrified civilians. “I’m done being afraid because you humans want us from other planets to be downtrodden and abused. Never will I go to war on your behalf with no armor or protection; because you feel safer knowing you can put me down like a rabid dog. No longer will I save you so you can criticize me for not saving more, for not saving them how you wish I’d saved them. I will not hide myself out of fear of being cut open like some lab animal, or my human connections being arrested if I don’t toe the line. This is your planet, and I am done holding your hands. I, Kara Zor-el no longer consider earth under my protection. The next human to try and kill me will not survive the attempt.” 

////

Winn was pale, his fingers nervously tapping by his side. He was perched on the edge of a chair in the hall. His friends were in surgery. Bile rose in his throat as he swallowed. He looked up as he heard a click of heels in the hall. “Lena?” 

“Is it true. The things she said?” Lena was stiff, the artificial light making her look sick. 

He let out a pained laugh. “Yes.” Winn cradled his head between his hands. “All those awful things and they were true. At least in a certain light.” 

“So you’re a prisoner against her then?” Lena lowered herself down besides him. 

“We all are.” His voice was thick. “You know we all knew but we never said it. But when she was drugged with RedK, Alex and J’onn paid the price. It's what it means to know her.” 

Lena’s fingers were white as she gripped at the edges of her chair. “Will they survive?” 

“James will never have his leg back. His shoulder will never be the same, the tendons are all torn. Alex is going to lose her hand. Her spleen was punctured as well as her small intestines. She’d have been on bedrest for weeks just with her ribs and collar bone in pieces. And Mon-el.” Winn swallowed back bile. “He’ll be lucky to walk again. But the lead she used on him, it got into his system. He’s alive because of whatever cure existed in the future.” 

“What happens now?” Lena’s voice was empty. 

He let out a low sound of horror. “Now the army is called in.” 

“And they kill her?” It echoed in the bare halls. 

He shrugged. “I don’t know if they can.” 

“What?” Lena sounded surprised at that. 

He gave her a wry look. “We never gave her support, not really. No armor, no kryptonite blockers, no therapy after hard missions, no combat training beyond how to throw a punch and beginners self defence, and now that she has armor and kryptonite blockers I don’t think there’s any weapon that could stop her. No one ever bothered to make a weapon against Supergirl with supplies and support. Because we never gave them to her.” 

“Surely there’s something that could work. Red sun lights?” Lena pressed. 

Winn just laughed. “That would only work if she lets herself be walked into a closed space with no natural sunlight.”

“You don’t think she’s do that? Surely we could make a trap.” Lena sounded like a plan was already forming in her head. 

“With what bait?” He cut her off. “With what threat? This half of her doesn’t love any one, doesn’t care for anyone. This isn’t the Supergirl who went to her almost certain death to save you from your mother.” 

“So we just have to find a fix with what we have.” Lena nodded as she spoke, it seemed more to convince herself than anyone else. 

Winn shut his mouth as he heard the distinctive sound of boots on the floor. He peered down the long hall and saw the army uniforms. “It’s too late for that.”

////

Kara Danvers looked up from the screen where Mr Roger’s Neighborhood was playing. It was silly, but it was the only thing that could keep her from spiraling while Alex was under anesthesia. She frowned as the door was thrown open and General Lane marched in. “General?” 

He looked at her in disgust, and pulled out a chunk of kryptonite and tossed in on the table in front of her. “Grab her.” 

She felt panic welling up as she tried to get away from the poisonous rock. But she didn’t have a chance, strong hands grabbing her, shackles attached to her hands as she was dragged from the room. Her legs were too weak to work. “General, I didn’t-” 

Someone roughly slammed her into the wall. Then they were moving again. 

Kara recognized the path they were taking. She knew the prison cells awaiting her at the end of this. Her feet couldn’t get a grip, the pain and weakness of kryptonite was biting into her skin. It took minutes for them to drag her into a containment cell. The two soldiers holding her up dropped her to her knees in the middle of the cell. 

“You’re going to tell me everything your other half is planning.” He drawled as he walked forward. Another man opening a box. 

Her eyes widened as she recognized the syringe as he pulled it out. 

////

James woke up feeling rather floaty, despite the sensation of doom and failure. He squinted against the bright lights filling the room. 

“General Lane really hates you.” Lena’s voice remarked. 

He shifted slightly and nearly cried out. Breathing through his nose, he squeezed his eyes shut. Finally as the sharp pain dulled his eyes flickered open to see Lena. “Lena? What happened?” 

“You tried to kill the Bad Supergirl, she took it personally.” Lena carefully guided a cup with a bent straw to his mouth. “Drink up.” 

James sipped carefully. “My leg?” 

“Her heat vision cauterize the wound, it's why you’re alive.” Lena pulled back, setting the cup of water aside. “I watched the fight you know. And I remember how you acted with our Supergirl when she first woke up, and when we cured Sam. I need to know something, why haven’t you turned against me completely for the black kryptonite doing all of this? You’ve been ready to kill people who are essentially out of their minds. So why no judgement for me?” 

He blinked rapidly, his head was still fuzzy but...he knew what she was asking. “You didn’t do it on purpose. It was just a mistake.” 

“And the fact that Kara didn’t choose to take your leg. Will that make you any more likely to forgive her?” Lena raised a brow that silenced him, because he didn’t have the answer. Lena cleared her throat. “I thought I could trust you, that you were loyal. But you really aren’t.” 

James stared at her in disbelief. “You’re breaking up with me?” 

“Yes.” Lena did look rather sorry...slightly as she looked at him. “I know this isn’t the time. But I’m afraid I needed an excuse to get to the medical wing, and General Lane really hates you. He was surprisingly willing to let me in here once I explained what I intended to say.” She rolled her eyes. “Idiot.” Lena looked down at him. “I am sorry about the timing, but this, us not making it shouldn’t be surprising.” 

There were two thuds across the room.

James’s brows furrowed as he looked at her. “You used breaking up with me to get into the medical wing?” 

“Well the army clearly isn’t going to save us. And I can’t do a lot in a cell.” Lena stood up brushing off her skirt. She looked over to where the thudding sounds had been from. “Right on time, honestly they should have known something was up when I tripped into them. I don’t trip.” She shook her head at what was apparently unconscious guards. “Best of all though, Winn got handcuffed to a chair in here. Please stay safe. I’m sorry we can’t get you out, but you’re safest here. Even Lane won’t move any of the three of you from in here while you’re this injured.” 

Lena swooped down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Stay safe.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so nice to write, it makes me feel better about life. Also the plot holes in the show people...they drive me crazy.

Sam looked up from the ground of the cell she and Ruby were sharing. “Lena? How did you?” She was on her feet in an instant looking around with wide eyes. “What’s going on?” 

“I’m getting you out.” Lena brandished a clearly alien gun in one hand as she hacked into the lock for the cell with her other hand. “Winn is handling the security cameras for us. But we don’t have long.” 

“Aunt Lena?” Ruby was on her feet as well now. “They dragged us here. Is Alex safe? What’s going on?” 

Lena’s face softened as she gave a quick look to Ruby. “Alex is fine, drugged out of her mind and in the medical ward, but she’ll be fine.” 

“How did you get out of your cell?” Sam had seen Lena being dragged off when the army had taken over the DEO. 

She smirked proudly as the door opened. “I’ll explain on the way. Stick close.” Lena spun on her heel and led them out of the cell. “Bad Supergirl just destroyed the desert DEO base, there’s alien escapees everywhere and the army is can’t keep up with them. We need to grab the other Supergirl from her cell and get out of here. J’onn is in way too deep of a containment cell to get to. James, Alex, and Mon-el are too drugged up to be of any use so they’re safest where they are.” 

“And Winn?” Sam asked as Lena tossed her a suspicious looking gun, it was glowing red. 

Lena winced. “One of us wasn’t going to make it out of here. I have more resources outside of the DEO than he does.” 

“Right.” Sam saw the resolution on her daughter’s face. “Do you know where they’re keeping our Supergirl?” 

“This level, apparently with kryptonite she doesn’t rank as enough of a threat for the lower levels.” Lena spat, her shoulders tense. “Idiots.” 

Sam raised a brow. “They do realize an evil version of her is winning against the whole planet right?” 

“Lane.” Lena replied as if that was an answer, though Sam supposed it was. 

“Did they hurt?” Ruby’s voice was soft as they moved through the empty hallways, the lights flashing red. 

Lena shook her head. “I don’t know.” She came to a stop by one of the doors. Ripping the number pad off the wall she began to fiddle with the wires before the door swooshed open. 

Sam pushed Ruby away from the door as the sickly green light filed the hallway with the door open. “Lena I can’t go in there.” 

Lena gave a sharp nod and made her way into the room. She shot the the glass door out of her way. Definitely an alien gun then. And then Lena was kneeling by a crumpled form on the floor. “Shit.” Lena stuffed her gun in the back of her pants, and hooked her arms under what had to be the arms of the crumpled form and dragged. 

It was surreal to see Supergirl, unconscious, being dragged out of the cell. Sam realized with a jolt of horror that the green look to the hero’s skin wasn’t just from the cell. Her veins were sickly green, standing out in stark relief against her skin. Blood was dripping down from the side of her mouth. 

As soon as Lena had Supergirl out of the room, Sam was there helping hoist up the unconscious woman between them. By throwing an arm over each of their shoulders they managed to kept a grip on her. Even if Supergirl weighed far more than any human her size should have. It was sickening as the solid muscles of the woman were twitching despite her being unconscious. 

Sam looked at Lena. “Now what?” 

“Now we get to the garage and hope there’s a vehicle I can hotwire in it.” Lena looked grim as her teeth clenched. 

Sam didn’t reply to that, she just handed Ruby her gun. “Honey, if it looks like we’re not going to make it out you shoot whomever you have to shoot and you run. Do you understand me?” 

“I’m not going to leave you.” Ruby’s face was stubborn, but Sam could see the fear even as they moved through the halls as quickly as possible. 

She just smiled at her daughter. “We’ll get out, but if you’re safe we’ll worry less. Ok? Just please run if you have to.” 

“That’s not going to be necessary.” Lena cut in, her eyes alight. 

Sam followed her friends gaze and saw the garage with only a single guard and several vehicles to choose from. “Ruby get behind us.” 

The soldier by the entrance to the parking garage spotted them. “HEY! What are you doing here!”

Lena didn’t hesitate, she whipped her gun out from behind her and shot him. He went flying, crashing against the wall and then falling down into a crumpled heap on the ground. “Come on, you see that hummer that looks like a tank? We’re taking that one.” 

“Shouldn’t we go for inconspicuous?” Sam protested even while Ruby ran ahead opening the back of the vehicle up and they dragged Supergirl to it and shoved her in. 

Lena gave her a look of disbelief. “We’re in the middle of a mass alien prisoner escape from two DEO facilities last I heard and the army has taken over National City. There is no such thing as inconspicuous right now. We need to get to the subterranean levels of L-corp. Once we shut ourselves in there we can get information and maybe do something.” 

Sam gave a nod of understanding as she made sure Ruby had climbed in after Supergirl. “Don’t forget your seat belt!” She swung herself up into the passenger seat. She’d barely hit the seat and Lena was shifting into gear, the wires sparking as they hung from where she’d ripped them free of the consol. “And National City traffic during a mass event like this?” 

“We’ve got sirens, and this is a tank.” Lena replied grimly as she seemingly stomped the gas.

////

Winn shut his laptop, they were safe. Getting up he walked over to where James was conscious. He was the only one who’d encountered this new version of Supergirl who could sit upright, even if it was extreme pain. And well, his secret identity had been blown. “They’re out.” 

“Maybe they can get somewhere safe?” James turned his dilated eyes at Winn, the morphine clearly at work. 

He stared at his friend in disbelief. “They’re going to stop this.” 

“She’ll kill them.” James’s voice was hoarse. 

Winn looked at his friend and sighed. “Maybe, but she didn’t kill you and she could have. They’re our best chance, Lena and Kara always were.” He winced at the empty space where once had been a leg. “I’m sorry about what Lena said.” 

James looked down at the blanket covering him, his eyes watering. “It was fair. I deserved it.” 

“Well, maybe Ms Grant won’t fire you. I mean at least you got unmasked and lost your leg in front of Catco.” Winn’s lips twitched up. 

He groaned. “Maybe I should do something with my own name. Photography and business classes for underprivileged neighborhoods?” 

“I think that would be good.” Winn reached out and squeezed his friends shoulder. He looked over at the door as it shuddered, the General’s men wouldn’t be long before they got through. “Tell Alex what’s going on when she wakes up yeah?” 

“Of course.” James’s hand moved as if to catch Winn’s, but the handcuffs attaching him to the hospital bed prevented the motion. “When this is all over how about we hit up a bar somewhere? Maybe we can both get a date.” 

Winn laughed. “Maybe no Superhero’s, alien criminals, or CEOs with more baggage than a train this time?” 

“Sounds like a plan.” James’s face was wry as the door came down. 

////

Lena aimed yet another sunlamp, scronged from a dark corner of her lab, at Kara’s sickly looking skin, the green veins still standing out in stark relief. “Remind me that when I make something that is damaging to a species, I also make an equal number of helpful inventions.” 

“I thought you’d said no more anti-kryptonian tech?” Sam replied from where she was plugging in another screen to get their information center going. “Also how do you never throw anything out? I don’t need to know why you have a bunker under your building, but I do need to know how you are apparently an old tech hoarder.” 

She threw a look at her friend. “You never know what will be necessary. What if someone compromises our systems? Best to have back ups from a different tech generation.” 

“You’re paranoid.” Sam let out a huff as she hooked in the twentieth screen. “Right, you realize we’re trapped like rats in here right?” 

Lena walked over to the new information center and began pulling channels up on each screen, with quick taps on the clunky keys of the ancient keyboards. She really ought to switch out for some less ancient back ups...still was functional though. “When you’re hiding from a Super there is no such thing as not being bunkered down and trapped like a rat. Why do you think all of the Luthor bolt holes are always bunkers? Once the Super finds you it's just a matter of time for them to get in.” 

“That is...not as surprising as it should be.” Sam handed her a bottle of water. “At least we won’t starve, more canned soup than I was expecting.” 

“It’s practical.” Lena grumbled as she pulled up the last screen. She leaned back and watched. “God.” 

They both just stood there, watching the screens showing fire and destruction. Lena watched as aliens wrecked horror. “How many alien detention facilities did she take down?” 

“From this..all of them.” Sam’s eyes flicked across the screens. “They’re focusing on the government buildings.” 

Lena took in the dozens of buildings being destroyed. “The courts, police stations, army bases.” She swallowed. “Supergirl had to have told them what to do. It’s too organized.” 

“What is she doing?” Sam looked horror stricken. 

She didn’t reply as thousands of possibilities ran through her head. “She’s rooting out the rot. Every institution that has hurt her, or made her or the other aliens afraid. And thousands will die and she won’t care.” 

“What, is she going to burn the whole government down?” Sam sounded flabbergasted. 

Lena’s fingers twitched. “Why wouldn’t she?” She was impressed and horrified all at the same time. Several of the screes all switched to the same feed. The other Supergirl was floating in the sky, her eyes burning as missiles exploded as she hit them with her heat vision. The world around her was swirling green and flame all around her.

“They have kryptonite missiles.” Sam uttered breathlessly. “Why didn’t they use those on me? Or the other World Killers?” 

Lena’s hands clenched. “If the government had kryptonite why did I have to make synthetic versions of it? They had enough to turn an entire room into a kryptonian prison. And the real stuff would be more successful than anything synthetic. They clearly had it in liquid form as well to inject it into Supergirl as well.” She was going to be sick.

“Wait...are you saying they didn’t use what is clearly an arsonal of anti-kryptonian radioactive material on World Killers but they using it on a Supergirl who’s not in her right mind?” Sam’s voice turned dark as she kept going. “That can’t be a coincidence.” 

“It’s not.” Lena’s nails cut into her palms as she fisted her hands. “And she’s making their weapons designed to kill her look like trash.” There was a low sound behind them. 

Lena spun and moved over. “Kara, Kara it’s alright. You’re safe.” She winced as she caught Kara’s shaking shoulder. Her presence wasn’t going to be very comforting likely. 

Kara’s body was shaking, her muscles still twitching. She whimpered as she curled into the fetal position, surprisingly not away from Lena. “Lena?”

“You’re safe, we got you out of there.” Lena held onto Kara as tight as she dared. She carefully angled her head so she could catch Kara’s eyes. “You’re safe. I promise.” 

Shuddering, Kara curled into her, her eyes wide and terrified. “You have to go to!” She reached out grabbing at her arms. “Please he’ll hurt you too. He doesn’t care if you’re human.” 

“We’re not in the DEO.” Lena winced as her eyes tracked the still green veins in her friend’s face and hands. “Sam and I got you to L-corp. We’re in the bunker under the building. No one can get in here, at least not fast.” 

Kara glanced away from Lena’s face. She looked around taking in the room. “Is this...you’re lab?”

“One of them.” Lena helped sit Kara up, so she could see for herself. “I doubt they fed you, come on, I’ve got an impressive amount of canned soup.” She grabbed one of the blankets they’d used to make a sort of mattress for Kara and pulled it up and over her shoulders. “We’d have put you in an actual bed but I wasn’t sure a hospital bed would be helpful for you.” 

Kara’s brow crinkled as she looked at her. “This isn’t real. Lena hates me.” 

“Kara…” Lena reached out and caught Kara’s face between her hands. “I don’t hate you. I’m not happy, but I don’t think I’m capable of hating you. And when you’re whole and a single person again we need to talk. But right now that doesn’t matter. You’re hurt. Lane pumped you full of liquid kryptonite, the DEO doesn’t exist any more, and the army is losing, badly. What’s important is that we’re safe, and that we can do something to stop this. The rest can come later, ok?” 

“But...I lied?” She looked at her in confusion, and a small amount of awe. 

Lena breathed in slowly, guilt eating at her. “We both said things, did thing we didn’t mean. And we both had secrets. But you’re my best friend.” Her voice turned thick. 

Kara shivered, or maybe it was a muscle twitch, maybe she was cold, it could even have been emotion. Those big blue eyes that always made Lena felt seen, welled up. And then Lena had an armful of sobbing kryptonian. 

////

Kara Zor-el wasn’t surprised to find a lead case in the White House. How had the government left their kryptonite stash be so obvious? Looking at the secret service agents she spotted the glowing green bullets, as if those would help them. Kryptonite couldn’t hurt her, not with the blocker, or the back up one in her boot, or the other one in the small of her back. Alex had taught her well, paranoia paid off. 

With her examination of the building done, she dropped down into the president’s office. The ceiling cracked, falling around her as she interrupted the president’s address to the nation. No one needed to hear the message to stay strong though, they weren’t going to win this no matter how strong humans thought they were. 

It would be rewarding to rip the government to pieces. But where was the fun in that? Better to watch their own people rip them to shreds; their own strength and loved ones turning against them. That, well that would be delicious indeed.

“Supergirl!” Guns were fired, people screamed. Their fear was the finest wine as far as Kara was concerned. She stared down the secret agents with their glowing green guns, as their bullets fell at her feet, flattened against her. 

The president grabbed her paper weight and hit it on her desk like it was a gavel. The entire room fell into silence as they looked at her. Marsdin eyed Kara, her posture perfect as she sat behind the desk of the most powerful office in her tiny little human nation. “Supergirl, here to surrender?” 

“Kara Zor-el please.” Kara cocked her head to the side. “Surrender? What ever have I done that I’d need to do that?” 

Marsdin clasped her hands together. “Releasing dangerous alien prisoners is a crime.” 

“Is it? None of them had had a trial.” Kara new her look was playful. “Isn’t it just my civic duty as a tax paying citizen to free individuals being held in solitary confinement with no trial, no formal charges, in fact they don’t even officially exist. Just like Cadmus. How many of your voters know that Cadmus is a rogue government organization?” 

She tossed a thumb drive at a horrified looking reporter. The man caught the thing automatically. “But then when it comes to aliens we don’t have human rights do we? You should find some interesting footage of what our taxes have been paying for.” Her smile turned shark like. “But then aliens aren’t the only ones you’ve been dissecting and torturing are they? Afterall my human father went under your knife to prevent me from being put under. All for going for a night time flight.” 

“This isn’t the way to make changes.” Marsdin stood up, her eyes unwavering. “We both inherited and have found an unjust system. Thousands of innocents will die if you keep this up. Is chaos what you want?” 

Kara had to bite back her instinctive reply that yes, she did want that. She wanted them all to suffer as she had suffered. Let their world turn to ash beneath their hands. But that wouldn’t force them to destroy themselves. “Oh, so I should have continued to assist the DEO?” She gave a condescending look at the reporters. “Didn’t know about them? They’re your governments alien department.” 

She turned back to Marsdin. “Why should I work with them? They shot me down the first week I wore the cape. Stole my human father and turned him into an abomination of unethical experimentation. Pressed my human sister into service and turned her into an anti-kryptonian weapon.” Her fury and spite spilled out as she spoke. “Funny they sent me out in a skin tight clothing that offered no protection. No protection against the things that could hurt me. No back up unless my human sister decided to break the rules and rush in, at least when she wasn’t murdering innocent aliens in dark alleys.” 

“So you unleashed the most dangerous beings in the galaxy?” Marsdin cut her off, her eyes wary. 

Kara snorted. “I only let out the ones that weren’t murderers.” She winked at a pale Cat who was standing by the side of the press pack. “Maybe you shouldn’t have tortured your closest allie? Or maybe you shouldn’t have hoped I’d die for you so you could have your little clandestine division come to the rescue then. You’d have loved that wouldn’t you? Earth’s hero dead, mankind saves themselves from the threat not even Supergirl could stop.” Her tone was mocking. “That would have gotten you your reelection, you’d have been a hero. Your agents that were heros.” 

“The DEO and your work with them predates me Supergirl.” Marsdin didn’t back down. “You should surrender, if this is a mental breakdown I’m sure the courts will treat you accordingly.” 

“I’m an alien, we don’t get trials.” Kara laughed and it was cruel. “Have fun torturing the alien population after I’m done destroying every anti-alien base and facility in this country. I shouldn’t have been surprised by the missiles designed to kill kryptonians, but I have to say I hadn’t expected them to be at more than one military base. Though I suppose that clears up whether it was gross bureaucratic oversight or true malicious intent that was leading towards my murder by hostile alien. Simple murder by alien, but enough weapons to take down an army of kryptonians.”

Marsdin’s jaw tightened. “You’re crossing a line Supergirl.” 

“Kara.” She floated a few inches off the ground. “You wanted Supergirl dead? She’s dead.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to point out that the soldiers directly under General Lane from what we've seen are absolute assholes who gleefully disregard human rights. Even for humans.

Lena was going to be sick as she watched the video on the screen of Kara being tortured by General Lane. Her fingernails cut into her palms. She was furious, so furious. Whether it was at that man for inflicting that pain, or on the other Kara for ensuring this happened so she could have her video to shock the world with; she didn’t know. She turned it off. Maybe she was weak, but she couldn’t watch it any longer. 

“Lena?” Kara’s soft voice came from the doorway. 

She turned on her heel. “Kara, did you need something?” Lena felt her lips quirk up at the picture Kara made. Her friend was in sweats, a knit blanket hanging over her shoulders, a teddy bear that Ruby had found in her arms. 

“I think...I think I know how to stop her.” Kara’s voice was barely audible. 

Lena’s first instinct was to demand an answer so they could enable it as quickly as possible. But Kara looked afraid of her reaction to it. “How?” 

“BlackK, the two of us together.” Kara swallowed thickly. “I think if we both want it, we’ll go back to being one.” She breathed out slowly. “If not, I can feel her, in here” She pressed to her chest. “If it doesn’t work-”

“No.” Lena cut in. “I will not kill you, and I’m not going to let you talk anyone else into doing it either. We can try your idea. But if it doesn’t work we’ll figure something else out.” 

Kara sighed, but she didn’t fight her on it. “It’ll be a trap she’ll be willing to walk into. Afterall, she may not feel affection, but she still has self interest.” 

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t see the trap.” Lena frowned. “She’ll be expecting a trap, so maybe an fake one for her to foil, that covers for the actual trap?” 

“That could work.” Kara looked rather self deprecating. “I can be rather arrogant sometimes.” 

Lena stepped closer to her friend, the now pale green veins still visible. “Well, that’s a trate we both share.” 

“I’m scared.” She shivered, her arms wrapping around herself. “I never know what the other me is going to do next.” 

Lena stepped into Kara and pulled her into a tight hug. “We’ll stop her, and I won’t let anyone punish you for the things she is doing.” 

“You can’t say that.” Kara pressed her nose into Lena’s neck. “But thank you.” 

She held her friend, it was her turn to be the strong one in their friendship, even if she was as afraid as Kara sounded. “You’ve got Sam, Ruby and myself and we’ll survive this. We survived the World Killers afterall. And evil you is probably more competent but far less murder happy.” 

“Because she’s weakening everyone first.” Kara’s voice was small. “When she’s done watching everyone tear themselves apart she’s going destroy what is left.” 

“Come on, let’s go work with Sam on this trap.” Lena squeezed Kara as tight as she could. “No need to fear what hasn’t happened yet.” 

////

Vasquez had never been so tired before in her entire life. Four days, over two thousand escaped aliens wreaking havoc. And then as of two days ago the public protests and riots had started. “Fuck! Jones, careful with that needle!?” 

Jones just gave her a deadpan as he continued to stitch up Vasquez’s side. “We don’t have time for careful.” 

“I’ll remember that when I’m stitching you up.” She grumbled. God she was so tired. 

He ignored her. “God, can’t Zor-el just give us one day to try and get caught up? Maybe a whole three hours of sleep.” There was longing in his voice. 

“Well maybe if the DEO hadn’t of been suspect we wouldn’t be in this position.” Vasquez snapped. 

Jones rolled his eyes. “Or maybe if Luthor hadn’t of poisoned her.” 

“We’d still be dealing with the World Killer if it wasn’t for Luthor.” She pressed the palm of her hand into her forehead. “Face it, we chose the wrong institution to work for.” 

His voice was thick with derision as he pulled a bit too hard on the thread. “What, you going to go join those dumbester tipping, car bombing roiters?” 

“They have a right to be angry.” Vasquez grumbled. “They’ve lived under the protection of the Supers for going on twenty years. And now it’s chaos and they’ve been pointed at their own government. Of course they’re rioting.” 

He cut the thread and moved away from her. “The economy has frozen, the entire country is going to disintegrate in a matter of weeks. Our enemies will send in armies to ‘stabilize’ the region. This country won’t even exist by the end of the year.” 

“Lena got out.” Vasquez dropped her shirt and stiffly made it to her feet. She slung her gun over her shoulder. “She got Supergirl out with her. They’ll fix this before that happens, we have to believe that. Or else why are we out here trying to keep the peace?” 

Jones grabbed his own gun and stood up. “Our duty.” 

“If there is one thing Supergirl should have taught us all is to keep hope.” Vasquez pulled her helmet back on. “Now let’s go catched that thrice damned Bronx bastard, that’s chucking cars at his boss’s house for firing him.” 

“With that temper it’s not a surprise he got fired.” Jones shook out his limbs, and cracked his neck. “Right, round up number forty seven for team Charlie.” 

Vasquez turned her comm on. “Move out.” 

////

Kara Zor-el sat on the top of the abandoned Catco building and listened to the destruction she had wrought. There were fires, looting, protests, riots that had once been protests. She could smell the smoke, hear the screams and roars of rage. Finally humanities fragility had been forced out, their fake venere ripped away.

Three blocks away she saw the armored military procession. She looked through buildings, watching the lead lined humvs. But it didn’t matter that she couldn’t see, she could still hear them. And that was enough. Fifteen heart beats between the vehicles. She cocked her head to the side as she saw someone drop from a building, landing in front of them. Interesting, she knew who that was. Well, if her victims were going to just hand themselves over to her. 

She pushed off the edge of Catco, her body halting it's descent almost immediately. Keeping high, but not as high as they’d be looking. Floating she waited, sure enough General Lane and several of his men climbed out of their vehicles coming to meet with Henshaw. 

Reaching to the small of her back she pulled out the viro blade she’d gotten from the alien market. No sense going into a battle of punches when she had no need of it. Flicking it on the blade came to life in all it's vibrating energy. They’d be expecting her from up high. 

Kara dropped down exactly a block away in the shadows. Who would have thought, Lane willing to work with Cadmus still. She rolled her eyes. Kicking off from the cement she moved from out of Henshaws field of vision. 

Henshaw heard her, but not till it was too late. He turned, an arm coming up. It wasn’t enough.

Her blade cut through his cybernetic fingers, his arm not high enough to really protect himself. Kara’s face was vicious as it sliced through his neck. His cybernetics were meant to survive blunt force. Not a sword designed to cut through the hardest known materials in the universe. 

There was a dull thunk as Henshaw’s head hit the ground, blood and grease sprayed her face. Closing her eyes she reveled in his death as his body collapsed. Turning off her sword she returned the hilt to the holster at the small of her back. Opening her eyes she focused on the pale and stoic face looking at her. “General Lane.” 

“Kara Zor-el.” His face was an empty mask, but she could hear his heart. “Here to kill me too?” 

She shifted her body so she was fully facing him. “Do you think your sanctimonious lies and bluster will make you the good guy?” Kara cocked her head to the side. 

“You’re the monster kryptonian. This isn’t your planet, and look what you’ve done to my home.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “So kill me, prove me right that you’re nothing but a monster.” 

Kara threw her head back and laughed. Wiping a tear from her high she shook her head while staring at him. “I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was hoping for better than that. But traditionally the one who’s tortured the other one doesn’t get to try and claim they’re the one in the right. Quick tip, not that you’ll get to use it.” Her smile fell away as she took a step forward. 

The soldiers lowered their guns and fired. Kara raised a brow, why would they bother? If she’d been capable of feeling guilt she might have felt bad for what she did next, but then these men had served under Lane. They could have requested a transfer or resigned their commissions or deserted or any other of a number of options when they’d realized their commanding officer was a monster who ignored laws and tortured. But by the time they made it to his personal guard they had gone from knowing of to abetting criminal action. There wasn’t even a whisper of guilt or second thoughts as she sliced the men into pieces with her vision. 

The sounds cut out sharply, bodies falling into smoking piles. Kara kept walking towards General Lane who seemed to have accepted he was going to die. But then she knew of his hail mary, there was a kryptonite dagger behind his back. 

Kara stopped in front of him. “I should have done this ages ago.” 

“It wasn’t you I tortured from what I understand.” His voice was stiff. 

She grinned. “No? From the video it rather looked like me.” She cupped her jaw and tapped her cheek thoughtfully. “But that is a rather philosophical question, is my moral, weak little husk as much me as I am? Better be safe on that one.” 

Lane moved as if he was shifting his weight, but she saw him flipping his dagger in his fingers. And then he stabbed shortly for her gut with it. 

Kara caught his fist. “Oh you poor boy.” She wrenched his wrist and grabbed the dagger from his hand. “Cute that you think you had a chance. Did no one ever tell you not to poke a bear when you only have a stick?” 

“You will never win. Someone will stop you.” He snarled, spit flying from his lips. 

She grinned. “Maybe, but you won’t be there to see it.” Kara flicked the dagger about between her fingers. “Let’s see what a human makes of kryptonite shall we?” 

Kara didn’t wait for a reply. She just sliced through the tendons at his shoulders. The knife slid through his flesh like butter. He screamed. She blurred behind him slicing through the tendons behind his knees dropping him to the ground in agony. 

“You’re going to die screaming! They will get you, and they will pull your guts out while you still breathe!” His voice cracked as he swore at her. 

Kara dropped down into a squat besides him, she slapped his cheek. “You see this?” She pulled out a vile of liquid in a syringe. “Did you know fire ants can kill a human? Too many bites and their venom is deadly. This is the pure extract of a fire ant, or rather thousands and thousands of them. “It seemed comparable to the pain caused by kryptonite.” 

“It was worth it.” He snarled as he ignored the vile, just staring at her as if he was the one with heat vision. 

She chuckled. “You’re right, physical pain isn’t enough for all that you’ve done. And then I realized I know something you don’t. Your daughters. They both fought over a man once, Clark Kent. A nice unhealthy sibling rivalry.” 

“You leave my daughters alone!” Lane tried to move, but without use of his limbs it was more of a pathetic flop. 

“I’m undecided on that actually. Well, at least when it comes to Lucy. But I thought you’d like to know more about that Clark Kent.” Her grin turned predatory. “Funny you hate him for fucking both your daughters and then still daring to marry Lois.” She patted his cheek. “I find it amusing you never realized who Clark Kent is without his glasses and weak posture.” 

Samuel Lane’s eyes widened in silent horror. 

She waited till she saw the truth settle in his face. Kara jabbed the syringe into his shoulder and slammed the plunger down. Standing she walked away, she made it two steps before the screaming started. 

////

Kara Danvers gave a tight smile to the camera in the corner of Lena’s office. Then she faced the balcony and hit play on the high pitched broadcast. No human would hear it. It was painful to hear, but she shut it out as she waited. Glancing around the familiar office she eased as she didn’t spot anything out of order. Well except for the light bulbs that had all been replaced with red sunlight bulbs. 

She spotted the black splotch on the horizon as it approached at a speed a human couldn’t have equaled. And then her other half paused, floating just past the balcony. 

The woman, garbed in kryptonian armor, a kryptonian black military suit on stayed there, her cold eyes examining the office. Finally she spoke. “I would have expected better from a Luthor.” 

“I just want to talk.” Kara replied, they’d known her other half would spot the trap afterall, it was the opening half of the trap anyways. 

Her other half laughed, it sent shivers down Kara’s spine. Finally the woman’s eyes burned and the sound of shattering glass told Kara that every lightbulb in the room was gone. But then the other Kara floated into the room. “Let’s talk then.” 

Kara sat down on the couch. “What should I call you? You’re me and I am you, but we’re not the same at all.” 

“Zor-el.” Her other half sneered. “You were always too weak to keep that name.” 

“I kept us alive.” She corrected gently. “But I’ve let us be afraid for too long haven’t I?” 

Zor-el arched a brow as she hopped up onto Lena’s desk. “Admitting you’re the worst parts of us?” 

Kara shook her head. “No, I think...I think neither of us is the worst part.” 

“I left General Lane screaming in the street.” She sniffed. “I severed Henshaw’s head with a viro blade. I left our ‘sister’ in pieces. Do you really expect me to believe you don’t loath me with every bit of yourself? Or are you too weak even for that?” 

She breathed in slowly. “What you’ve said to the media, it's true.” Her hands were shaking. “What you’ve accomplished, I don’t like how, but it needed to be done.” Kara tipped her chin up slightly. “But you’re not satisfied are you? The president will be resigning tomorrow, the country is on fire, the DEO no longer exists. The courts that saw alien cases and dismissed them out of hand are rubble. The people who hurt us are punished. But you want more.” 

Zor-el looked at her with narrowed eyes. “What would you know?” 

“We’re the same person.” Kara held the sharp gaze of her other half. “You are the aching emptiness we have carried since krypton. And not even a whole planet could fill up that hole.” 

Zor-el looked, impressed almost. “You think you know something that would fill that wound?” 

“No.” Kara shook her head. “Nothing can fill that wound. But we can build something here on earth. We tried before, but our fear let it be curdled by bullies, monsters and even those who wished to help.”

Scoffing, Zor-el raised her hand, picking at her nails, dried blood sloughing off. “Oh you want us to what? Embrace our backstabbing little family of monsters and say ‘all is forgiven’?” She shook her head. “Cute. I’ll rip them to pieces before you can try.” 

“I thought that would be your response.” Kara stood up, she didn’t need to see Lena’s face to know she understood. Lead blast sheets slammed down blocking out the natural light. The walls slid open, red light pouring out. 

“What?” Zor-el was on her feet instantly, head snapping around in alarm before she stumbled, grabbing the side of the desk to hold herself up. Glaring she looked back at her. “Luthor, smart.” Her teeth bared as she pulled her blade hilt out. “But I’ll take you down with me.” 

Kara let the weakness wash over her. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the vile of black, thick liquid. “See I thought about it, I can still feel you. Our heartbeats still beat as one. It’s how you knew to get the video of me being tortured. Black Kryptonite did this to us, it should undo it.” 

“I’ll kill you before you can make me touch that.” Zor-el snarled. 

“You could.” Kara didn’t fight against that statement. “But if you do Lena will flood this room with a toxic gas. We leave this room as one, or dead.” She took a step forward and held out her hand holding the vile. “You know this will never end till death takes you. There’s nothing, no one that could stop you, could make the pain go away.” 

“So suicide? Should have known, you felt too much peace when space took us.” Zor-el’s viro blade hilt lowered though. 

Kara took another step. “You mean we felt peace when we thought we could finally be free. But we weren’t, not really.” She raised her hand further. “I promise, I won’t undo what you’ve done. Together we can maybe make this world a better place, a place we might even be happy. Neither of us could do it alone. We’re not complete.” She pressed a hand to her chest, she knew her counterpart would feel the hallow feel as well. “Please, let us be whole again. Let’s finish this.” 

Zor-el stared at her for a long while. But then she shook her head, a smirk on her face. Reaching out she clasped their hands together, the vile of liquid shattering between their fingers. “Let’s finish this then.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are at the end. If any of you are interested, the two stories I'm currently posting outside of this are The One Night Stand that Never Ended and A New Future. I hope you guys enjoyed this fic as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Cat Grant walked into the president's office, she ignored the fact that it wasn’t exactly proper to stride in unannounced on the eve after the swearing in. “Well, I have to say that I would not have expected this two years ago.” 

“What, that I’d be your boss instead of your employee or that the country would actually still exist?” Lucy replied dryly from where she was staring out the windows.

Cat walked to the side table and poured two glasses of scotch. “That you would have ended up the youngest President of the United States of America. Hit that all important thirty five last month. Though the pubic shaking of Supergirl’s hand and getting her to agree to help restore the peace made a bit of an impression. I suppose I’m more surprised you agreed to let yourself be elected.” 

“Do you know how many people nominated me? I didn’t really have a choice.” Lucy turned around and accepted the glass tumbler of scotch. She took a healthy drink from it. “I averaged over two hundred a county...county Cat.” 

She took her own drink. “You did turn almost the entire map blue.” Cat raised a pointed brow. “I have to say if winning the Nobel Prize for Peace was surprising.” 

Lucy let out a sound of exhaustion as she ran a hand through her hair, destroying the carefully coiffed hairstyle. “I wanted to beat my sister you know, this wasn’t what I had in mind. Though I suppose I’m not the add on to any of my family members any longer.” 

“It is always nice to see another woman living up to her potential.” Cat leaned against the desk. “It was a nice touch having Lena and Supergirl at your confirmation.” 

Huffing under her breath, Lucy sipped at her scotch. “Kara insisted, she still feels guilty about it all. And Lena does as well so she’s happy to go along with whatever Kara suggests.” 

“Well, the property damages alone from the Black K event did total over 30 billion.” Cat set her glass down on the desk. “But cutting the rot out is expensive.” 

Lucy ran her finger along the wood grains of the desktop. “Thank you for not breaking the story that it was radiation poisoning that caused it all.” 

“Please, the public could barely handle the story that the General crossed a line and tortured Supergirl and it lead to her slightly mentally breaking down and ripping out the DEO and anti-alien sections of the military.” Cat scoffed. “People are sheep, and in this case the truth would hurt more than help. Which I never would have said earlier in my career.” 

“Cat Grant, still learning then?” Lucy grinned slightly. 

Cat looked at her friend. “We never stop.” 

“Well, good thing I have friends to keep me in check.” Lucy groaned. “Feeling less worried about the new DEO?”

Cat ran a finger along the rim of her glass. “Well we aren’t naming them that which helps. Because if it's you it’ll work.” Cat sighed. “The police have come a long way with handling alien criminals. And we expanded the department of immigration to handle alien matters as well.” 

“It’s not enough and you know it.” Lucy sat down behind the desk. “We’ve only survived because Kara, Kal and a surprising number of aliens have been filling in. That and our DEO agents ended up in new science departments within the police. But it's not enough.” 

Cat considered Lane. “As your media liason I have to tell you that it will be a nightmare. You’re going to have to trot out your friendships with Luthor and Supergirl. People will feel betrayed by you, transparency will be your best weapon.” 

“Who’d have thought a Luthor and a Lane would be the champions of alien rights?” Lucy shook her head. “Well it helps with our narrative of a new future.” 

“It does at that.” Cat picked up her tumbler and held it out. “To the future then?” 

Lucy clinked their glasses together. “To a better one.”

////

Alex watched as her fingers curled and and straightened out again. “This is amazing Lena.” She grinned. “And don’t think I don’t realize I have an Anakin Skywalker hand.” 

“It’ll be more functional than your old one.” Lena explained as she looked at the screens at the readings of the hand, attached by a dozen wires to her laptop. “We’re three years away from a synthetic skin with artificial nerves here at L-corp.” 

“Lena, I’m not your board or an investor.” Alex picked up a jelly bean that was sitting on the table. “I’m just your gleeful guinea pig.” 

Lena gave her an annoyed look. “I know that look, you are not going to attach some weapon to this prosthetic that is going break it like the last one.” 

“It's human augmentation.” Alex couldn’t help the slight whine in her voice. 

Lena just arched a single brow. “It’s state of the art technology that you are not going to damage. Once it's no longer in testing for L-corp you can add a gun or whatever your heart desires to it.” Her brow rose impossibly higher. “And don’t even try the pout. Your sister is better at it than you.” 

Alex grinned, reaching out she poked Lena. “You two are disgusting.” 

“Don’t be crass.” A pleased smirk pulled at the corners of Lena’s lips. “Now try to pick up the paper clip.” 

“There’s a slight delay between when I want it to move and when it's moving.” Alex let herself concentrate on the science. 

Lena clicked a few times. “Go through the routine again now.” 

As Alex began the series of hand movements again, she felt like groaning in boredom. It was the seventh time they’d been through this...today. “So how was the inauguration ball?” 

“Exhausting, exciting, bit of an adrenaline rush.” Lena looked away from her computer screen. “How’s AA going?” 

“Good.” Alex blew some stray hairs out of her face. “Hit 500 days last week.” 

Lena reached out, resting her hand on her shoulder. “We’re celebrating this on game night right?” 

“Kara mentioned a banner.” Alex replied with a fond a eye roll. “Please make sure she gets something that isn’t pizza, potstickers and cake please. It the best part of you two living together, you can reign in the junk food.” 

Lena laughed out right, her nose crinkling ever so slightly. “There will be salad, and I’ll make sure there is more cake than ice-cream.” 

////

Kara’s palms were sweaty as she nervously bounced her knee in the uncomfortable waiting room chair. Everything was all calming colors and amature art. There were several crystals sitting about on various surfaces. 

“Ms Zor-el.” A woman who looked to be in her sixties, oddly eclectic clothing and brightly colored reading glasses, walked into the waiting room. “Come on in.” 

“You’re Cat’s therapist?” She couldn’t help the shock in her expression. Kara was fairly sure Cat would have chewed this woman up and spat her out in under five minutes. 

The therapist just gave her a look. “Kiera, I was expecting to see you years ago.” 

“Um…” Kara moved to shift her glasses that she no longer wore. Standing up she swallowed. “Right, I um...my last two therapitsts begged me to stop coming and I think the last one had a nervous breakdown?” 

“Well at least you won’t chuck a stapler at me.” The woman waved her on in. “Come on, I have a feeling our first meeting is going to take a while.” Pausing she looked at her with a soft expression. “Though I believe they broke down around the time they realized you had PTSD, abandonment issues, anxiety, a hero complex, depression, likely a half dozen other trauma related issues. Oh a case of survivors guilt the size of the pacific. Am I missing any of the basics?” 

Kara blinked. “I can see why Cat liked you.” 

“How do you feel about art therapy? I have a feeling I won’t be dodging paint brushes and paint boxes.” The therapist gave her a wry look. “And call me Susan.” 

Following behind Susan, Kara felt something lift off of her shoulders, this one was going to work. She could already tell. “So what do you want me to paint?”


End file.
